Shortly after the USS Enterprise flew off television screens, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry began lobbying Paramount Pictures to continue the franchise with a feature-length film. Although the project was scrapped several times, due to lackluster scripts, Paramount later greenlit the project and Star Trek: The Motion Picture hit the big screen 45 years ago on December 7, 1979.
The film reunited the original television cast for the first time since the show’s cancellation in 1969. Directed by Robert Wise, it starred William Shatner as James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, DeForest Kelley as Leonard McCoy, George Takei as Hikaru Sulu, Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov, and James Doohan as Montgomery Scott. Star Trek: The Motion Picture cost approximately $46 million to produce – the largest for any film made within the United States up to that time – and included a complete modification to both the inside and outside of the Enterprise. Robert Fletcher also provided new uniforms for the fictional crew, while production designer Harold Michelson fabricated all new sets.
In what would be the start of his 20-year association with Star Trek, Jerry Goldsmith composed the score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. A soundtrack featuring the film’s music was released by Columbia Records in conjunction with the film debut and became one of Goldsmith’s best-selling scores. It also earned him nominations for the Oscars, Golden Globe, and Saturn awards. Goldsmith would go on to compose scores for The Final Frontier, First Contact, Insurrection, Nemesis, The Next Generation, and Voyager.
In the film, an enormously powerful alien spacecraft known as V’Ger is spotted approaching Earth, destroying everything in its path. The Federation calls on Admiral James T. Kirk to resume command of the recently overhauled USS Enterprise and its crew. What follows are trippy visuals and gorgeous space effects as the crew tries to determine V’Ger’s origins and save the planet. Star Trek: The Motion Picture received mixed reviews before earning a total of $139 million worldwide. Although this was, short of studio expectations, it was enough for Paramount to propose the less expensive and critically acclaimed sequel Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
